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Age54
Birthday 26 June, 1970
Birthplace Studio City, California, USA
Height 6' (183 cm)
Eye Color Blue
Hair Color Brown - Dark
Zodiac Sign Cancer
Nationality American
Occupation Director
Claim to Fame Boogie Nights
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Paul Thomas Anderson (born June 26, 1970) also known as P.T. Anderson, is an American filmmaker. Interested in film-making since a young age, Anderson was encouraged by his father to become a filmmaker.

In 1993, he wrote and directed a short film titled Cigarettes & Coffee on a budget of $20,000. After he attended the Sundance Institute, Anderson had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first feature film, a neo-noir crime thriller titled Hard Eight, in 1996. Anderson received critical and commercial success for his film Boogie Nights (1997), set during the Golden Age of Porn in the 1970s and 1980s. His third feature, Magnolia (1999), takes place over a single day in the San Fernando Valley, following the interconnected lives of several characters in search of happiness and resolution. It received strongly positive reviews despite struggling at the box office. In 2002, the romantic comedy-drama Punch-Drunk Love, Anderson's fourth feature, was released to generally favorable reviews.

The epic drama There Will Be Blood (2007), set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, centers on a silver miner's efforts to capitalize on the Southern California oil boom. Released after a five-year absence, it garnered wide acclaim from critics. Anderson's sixth film, the drama The Master, was released to critical acclaim. His seventh film, the crime comedy-drama Inherent Vice, based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Pynchon, was released in 2014, to general acclaim. His eighth film, Junun, is a documentary about the making of an album of the same name.

Anderson has been nominated for six Academy Awards over the course of his career, while his works have earned a further fourteen Academy Award nominations for cast and crew. There Will Be Blood has been named by several critics as the best film of the 2000s. It later ranked, along with The Master and Inherent Vice, in BBC's 2016 poll of the greatest motion pictures since 2000.

Early lifeAnderson was born June 26, 1970, in Studio City, California, to Edwina (née Gough) and Ernie Anderson. Ernie was an actor who was the voice of ABC and a Cleveland television late-night horror movie host known as "Ghoulardi" (after whom Anderson later named his production company). Anderson grew up in the San Fernando Valley. He is third youngest of nine children, and had a troubled relationship with his mother but was close with his father, who encouraged him to become a writer or director. Anderson attended a number of schools, including Buckley in Sherman Oaks, John Thomas Dye School, Campbell Hall School, Cushing Academy and Montclair Prep.

Anderson was involved in filmmaking at a young age and never really had an alternative plan to directing films. He made his first movie when he was eight years old and started making movies on a Betamax video camera which his dad bought in 1982 when he was twelve years old. He later started using 8 mm film but realized that video was easier. He began writing in adolescence, and at 17 years old he began experimenting with a Bolex sixteen millimeter camera. After years of experimenting with "standard fare", he wrote and filmed his first real production as a senior in high school at Montclair Prep using money he earned cleaning cages at a pet store. The film was a thirty-minute mockumentary shot on video called The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), about a pornography star; the story was inspired by John Holmes, who also served as a major inspiration for Boogie Nights.

Career

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Early careerAnderson spent two semesters as an English major at Emerson College where he was taught by David Foster Wallace, and only two days at New York University before he began his career as a production assistant on television films, music videos and game shows in Los Angeles and New York City. Feeling that the material shown to him at film school turned the experience into "homework or a chore", Anderson decided to make a twenty-minute film that would be his "college".

For $20,000, made up of gambling winnings, his girlfriend's credit card, and money his father set aside for him for college, Anderson made Cigarettes & Coffee (1993), a short film connecting multiple story lines with a twenty-dollar bill. The film was screened at the 1993 Sundance Festival Shorts Program. He decided to expand the film into a feature-length film and was subsequently invited to the 1994 Sundance Feature Film Program. At the Sundance Feature Film Program, Michael Caton-Jones served as Anderson's mentor; he saw Anderson as someone with "talent and a fully formed creative voice but not much hands-on experience" and gave him some hard and practical lessons.

1990s

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Hard EightWhile at the Sundance Feature Film Program, Anderson already had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first feature. In 1996, Anderson made his first full-length feature, Sydney, which was retitled Hard Eight (1996). Upon completion of the film, Rysher re-edited it. Anderson, who still had the workprint of his original cut, submitted the film, which was accepted and screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Anderson was able to get his version released but only after he retitled the film and raised the $200,000 necessary to finish it - he, Philip Baker Hall, Gwyneth Paltrow and John C. Reilly contributed the funding. The version that was released was Anderson's and the acclaim from the film launched his career.

Boogie NightsAnderson began working on the script for his next feature film during his troubles with Hard Eight, completing the script in 1995. The result was Anderson's breakout for the drama film Boogie Nights (1997), which is based on his short The Dirk Diggler Story. The script was noticed by New Line Cinema's president, Michael De Luca, who felt "totally gaga" reading it. It was released on October 10, 1997 and was a critical and commercial success. The film revived the career of Burt Reynolds, and provided breakout roles for Mark Wahlberg and Julianne Moore. At the 70th Academy Awards ceremony, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including for Best Supporting Actor (Burt Reynolds), Best Supporting Actress (Julianne Moore) and Best Original Screenplay.

MagnoliaAfter the success of Boogie Nights, New Line told Anderson that he could do whatever he wanted for his next film and granted him creative control. Though Anderson initially wanted to make a film that was "intimate and small-scale", the script "kept blossoming". The resulting film was the ensemble piece Magnolia (1999), which tells the story of the peculiar interaction of several individuals in the San Fernando Valley. Anderson used the music of Aimee Mann as a basis and inspiration for the film, commissioning her to write eight new songs. At the 72nd Academy Awards, Magnolia received three nominations, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Tom Cruise), Best Original Song for "Save Me" by Aimee Mann and Best Original Screenplay. Anderson stated after the film's release that "what I really feel is that Magnolia is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make."

2000s

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Punch-Drunk LoveAdam Sandler, Paul Thomas Anderson, Emily Watson and Philip Seymour Hoffman at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

After the release of Magnolia, Anderson stated that he would like to work with comedic actor Adam Sandler in the future and that he was determined to make his next film 90 minutes long. His next feature was the romantic comedy-drama film Punch-Drunk Love (2002), starring Sandler, with Emily Watson portraying his love interest. The story centers on a beleaguered small-business owner (Sandler) with anger issues and seven emasculating sisters. A subplot in the film was partly based on David Phillips (also called The Pudding Guy). Sandler received critical praise for his role in his first major departure from the mainstream comedies that had made him a star. At the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Anderson won the Best Director Award and was nominated for the Palme d'Or.

There Will Be BloodThere Will Be Blood (2007) was loosely based on the Upton Sinclair novel Oil!. The budget of the film was $25 million, and it earned $76.1 million worldwide. Daniel Day-Lewis starred and won an Oscar for Best Leading Actor for his role. The film received eight nominations overall at the 80th Academy Awards. Paul Dano received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Anderson was nominated for Best Director from the Directors Guild of America. The film also received eight Academy Award nominations, tying with No Country for Old Men for the most nominations that year. Anderson received nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, losing all three to the Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men. There Will Be Blood was regarded by some critics as one of the greatest films of the decade, some parties further declaring it one of the most accomplished American films of the modern era; David Denby of The New Yorker wrote "the young writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has now done work that bears comparison to the greatest achievements of Griffith and Ford", while Richard Schickel proclaimed it "one of the most wholly original American movies ever made".

2010s

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The MasterIn December 2009, Anderson was working on a new script tentatively titled The Master, about a "charismatic intellectual" who starts a new religion in the 1950s. An associate of Anderson stated that the idea for the film had been in Anderson's head for about twelve years. Though the film makes no reference to the movement, it has "long been widely assumed to be based on Scientology." The Master was released on September 14, 2012 by The Weinstein Company in the United States and Canada to critical acclaim. The film received three nominations at the 85th Academy Awards: Joaquin Phoenix for Best Leading Actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Best Supporting Actor and Amy Adams for Best Supporting Actress.

Inherent ViceProduction of Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel Inherent Vice began in May 2013 and ended in August of the same year. The film marked the first time that Pynchon allowed his work to be adapted for the screen and saw Anderson work with Phoenix for a second time. The supporting cast includes Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, Martin Short, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Josh Brolin, Peter McRobbie, Michael K. Williams and Eric Roberts. The film received two nominations at the 87th Academy Awards: Anderson for Best Adapted Screenplay and Mark Bridges for Best Costume Design.

JununIn 2015, Anderson directed a 54-minute documentary, Junun, about the making of an album of the same name by Jonny Greenwood, Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur and a group of Indian musicians. Most of the performances were recorded at the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Junun premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival.

Untitled future projectAnderson is currently working on a drama about the London fashion industry in the 1950s, which will star Daniel Day-Lewis, in his first acting role since Lincoln in 2012, Lesley Manville, and Richard Graham. In September 2016, the U.S. distribution rights were acquired by Focus Features, with Universal handling international distribution. Principal photography began in January 2017, with an intended release in late 2017.

Other workAnderson was a standby director during the 2005 filming of Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion for insurance purposes, as Altman was 80 years old at the time. Anderson has directed several music videos, including Radiohead's 2016 single "Daydreaming" and several for Fiona Apple. In 2008, Anderson co-wrote and directed a 70-minute play at the Largo Theatre, comprising a series of vignettes starring Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen, with a live score by Jon Brion.

Influences and style

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InfluencesAnderson only attended film school for two days, preferring to learn the craft by watching films by the filmmakers he liked, as well as watching films accompanied by director's audio commentary. Anderson has cited Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles and Max Ophüls as his main influences as a filmmaker.

Themes and styleAnderson is known for films set in the San Fernando Valley with realistically flawed and desperate characters. Among the themes dealt with in Anderson's films are dysfunctional familial relationships, alienation, surrogate families, regret, loneliness, destiny, the power of forgiveness, and ghosts of the past. Anderson makes frequent use of repetition to build emphasis and thematic consistency. In Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and The Master, the phrase "I didn't do anything" is used at least once, developing themes of responsibility and denial. Anderson's films are known for their bold visual style which includes stylistic trademarks such as constantly moving camera, steadicam-based long takes, memorable use of music, and multilayered audiovisual imagery. Anderson also tends to reference the Book of Exodus, either explicitly or subtly, such as in recurring references to Exodus 8:2 in Magnolia, which chronicles the plague of frogs, culminating with the literal raining of frogs in the film's climax, or the title and themes in There Will Be Blood, a phrase that can be found in Exodus 7:19, which details the plague of blood.

Within his first three films, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights and Magnolia, Anderson explored themes of dysfunctional families, alienation and loneliness. Boogie Nights and Magnolia were noted for their large ensemble casts, which Anderson returned to in Inherent Vice. In Punch-Drunk Love, Anderson explored similar themes but expressed a different visual style, shedding the influences and references of his earlier films, being more surreal and having a heightened sense of reality. It was also short, compared to his previous two films, at 90 minutes.

There Will Be Blood stood apart from his first four films but shared similar themes and style such as flawed characters, moving camera, memorable music, and a lengthy running time. The film was more overtly engaged with politics than his previous films had been, examining capitalism and themes such as savagery, optimism, and obsession. The Master dealt with "ideas about American personality, success, rootlessness, master-disciple dynamics, and father-son mutually assured destruction." All of his films deal with American themes with business versus art in Boogie Nights, ambition in There Will Be Blood, self-reinvention in The Master.

Frequent collaboratorsAnderson frequently collaborates with many actors and crew, carrying them over from film to film. Anderson has referred to his regular actors as "my little rep company" that has included John C. Reilly, Philip Baker Hall, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Melora Walters, and most prominently, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Luis Guzmán is also considered an Anderson regular. Hoffman acted in Anderson's first four films as well as The Master. Except for Paul F. Tompkins, Kevin Breznahan, and Jim Meskimen, who all had equally minor roles in Magnolia, There Will Be Blood had an entirely new cast. Anderson is one of three directors- the others being Jim Sheridan and Martin Scorsese- who Daniel Day-Lewis has collaborated with more than once. Robert Elswit has been cinematographer for all of Anderson's films except The Master which was shot by Mihai Mălaimare Jr. Jon Brion served as composer for Hard Eight, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love, and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead for There Will Be Blood, The Master, Inherent Vice and the untitled fashion project. Anderson also regularly works with producing partners JoAnne Sellar, Scott Rudin, Michael De Luca, and Daniel Lupi as well as casting director Cassandra Kulukundis.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Thomas_Anderson

Paul Thomas AndersonDate of Birth 26 June 1970, Studio City, California, USA

Nickname PTA

Height 5' 10½" (1.79 m)

Mini Bio (1)Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making 8 mm films, Anderson cut his teeth shooting films on video and editing them from V.C.R. to V.C.R.

Part of Anderson's artistic D.N.A. comes from his father, who hosted a late night horror show in Cleveland. His father knew a number of oddball celebrities such as Robert Ridgely, an actor who often appeared in Mel Brooks' films and would later play "The Colonel" in Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997). Anderson was also very much shaped by growing up in "The Valley", specifically the suburban San Fernando Valley of greater Los Angeles. The Valley may have been immortalized in the 1980s for its mall-hopping "Valley Girls", but for Anderson it was a slightly seedy part of suburban America. You were close to Hollywood, yet you weren't there. Would-bes and burn-outs populated the area. Anderson's experiences growing up in "The Valley" have no doubt shaped his artistic self, especially since three of his four theatrical features are set in the Valley.

Anderson got into film-making at a young age. His most significant amateur film was The Dirk Diggler Story (1988), a sort of mock-documentary a la This Is Spinal Tap (1984), about a once-great pornography star named Dirk Diggler. After enrolling in N.Y.U.'s film program for two days, Anderson got his tuition back and made his own short film, Cigarettes & Coffee (1993). He also worked as a production assistant on numerous commercials and music videos before he got the chance to make his first feature, something he liked to call Hard Eight (1996), but would later become known to the public as "Hard Eight". The film was developed and financed through The Sundance Lab, not unlike Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992). Anderson cast three actors whom he would continue working with in the future: Altman veteran Philip Baker Hall, the husky and lovable John C. Reilly and, in a small part, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who so far has been featured in all four of Anderson's films. The film deals with a guardian angel type (played by Hall) who takes down-on-his-luck Reilly under his wing. The deliberately paced film featured a number of Anderson trademarks: wonderful use of source light, long takes and top-notch acting. Yet the film was reedited (and retitled) by Rysher Entertainment against Anderson's wishes. It was admired by critics, but didn't catch on at the box office. Still, it was enough for Anderson to eventually get his next movie financed. "Boogie Nights" was, in a sense, a remake of "The Dirk Diggler Story", but Anderson threw away the satirical approach and instead painted a broad canvas about a makeshift family of pornographers. The film was often joyous in its look at the 1970s and the days when pornography was still shot on film, still shown in theatres, and its actors could at least delude themselves into believing that they were movie stars. Yet "Boogie Nights" did not flinch at the dark side, showing a murder and suicide, literally in one (almost) uninterrupted shot, and also showing the lives of these people deteriorate, while also showing how their lives recovered.

Anderson not only worked with Hall, Reilly and Hoffman again, he also worked with Julianne Moore, Melora Walters, William H. Macy and Luis Guzmán. Collectively, Anderson had something that was rare in U.S. cinema: a stock company of top-notch actors. Aside from the above mentioned, Anderson also drew terrific performances from Burt Reynolds and Mark Wahlberg, two actors whose careers were not exactly going full-blast at the time of "Boogie Nights", but who found themselves to be that much more employable afterwards.

The success of "Boogie Nights" gave Anderson the chance to really go for broke in Magnolia (1999), a massive mosaic that could dwarf Altman's Nashville (1975) in its number of characters.

Anderson was awarded a "Best Director" award at Cannes for Punch-Drunk Love (2002).

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Nathan Cox and Brian McInnis

Trade Mark (7)[Camel cigarettes] All smoking characters in Anderson's early movies smoke Camel cigarettes - Philip Baker Hall smokes Camel Filters in Hard Eight (1996), William H. Macy smokes Camel Lights in Magnolia (1999).

Frequently uses the Iris In/Out film technique. This technique has one part of the scene encircled, while the rest is black. Also used during the silent film era as a way of opening and closing shots.

Frequently uses extended takes

Most of his early films are set in the San Fernando Valley, California

Most of his early films feature large ensemble casts, often featuring Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, and/or Melora Walters.

[Recurring names] Paul Thomas Anderson has used Philip Seymour Hoffman in five films and Jon Brion in four films; Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Melora Walters and Luis Guzmán in three films; Alfred Molina, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Ricky Jay, Michael Penn, Mary Lynn Rajskub, 'Kevin J. O'Connor (I)', David Warshofsky, Paul F. Tompkins and Joaquin Phoenix in two films.

Often shoots very wide angles and moving tracking shots

Trivia (28)Father, Ernie Anderson, was a local celebrity in Cleveland, where he hosted horror shows using the name "Ghoulardi".

Son of Ernie Anderson.

Lived in Los Angeles, USA with girlfriend Fiona Apple. He directed Apple in the video for her cover of "Across the Universe", which was part of the soundtrack for the movie, Pleasantville (1998).

Dropped out of NYU's film program after two days. Subsequently got his tuition payment back and used the money to make Cigarettes & Coffee (1993).

He shaves his head before SOME productions. He did not shave his head before the production of Magnolia (1999), as evidenced in the documentary on the DVD.

His favorite all-time film is Network (1976).

For the brief time he was at NYU film school, he handed in some of Pulitzer Prize-winner David Mamet's work as his own. When he got it back with a "C" grade he decided to leave.

Tom Cruise got him on to the set of Eyes Wide Shut (1999). He spent the day there and got to talk to Stanley Kubrick.

Despite the constant comparison between them amongst fans, he and fellow director Quentin Tarantino are great friends. Furthermore, Tarantino has praised Anderson's work, calling him a "filmmaking artist.".

Is a big fan of Adam Sandler and his movies.

He has three children with his partner Maya Rudolph: daughter Pearl Minnie Anderson (b. October 15, 2005), daughter Lucille Anderson (b. November 6, 2009), and son Jack Anderson (b. July 3, 2011).

Cites Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme as his biggest influences and considers both to be the greatest American film directors.

Was employed as a standby director for A Prairie Home Companion (2006) for insurance purposes, and in the event that ailing 80-year-old director Robert Altman was unable to finish shooting.

Attended Emerson College in Boston, Mass.

Directed 7 actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams. Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in There Will Be Blood (2007).

Fan and personal friend of Aimee Mann. He used the song "Christmastime" performed by Mann in Hard Eight (1996), and many of her songs in the Magnolia (1999) soundtrack.

Is a big fan of Major League Baseball. His favorite teams are his hometown Los Angeles Dodgers and his late father's favorite team, the Boston Red Sox.

(February 17, 2013) Paul and Maya Rudolph are expecting their fourth child.

Over the 7 movies he has directed/wrote; he has directed 7 actors to an Oscar Nomination. This equates to an Oscar Nomination for Acting for every movie he has made.

Sam Mendes calls him "a true auteur".

Time magazine compared There Will Be Blood (2007) to "the greatest achievements" of D.W. Griffith and John Ford.

Once described Magnolia (1999) as "for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make".

Cites Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Stanley Kubrick, Orson Welles, and Max Ophüls as his main influences as a filmmaker.

A longtime Thomas Pynchon devotee.

His English teacher at Emerson College was renowned writer David Foster Wallace. Anderson has described him as the only teacher he ever loved, and stated in an interview with Marc Maron that his dropping out of Emerson College after a year was largely due to Wallace having left.

Got the initial idea for Hard Eight (1996) after watching Philip Baker Hall in Midnight Run (1988) according to a 2008 'Esquire' article: "In the summer of 1988, for example, when Midnight Run (1988) came out. It was a fairly formulaic action-comedy, and Martin Brest wasn't even close to Anderson's pantheon of cool directors, but one thing caught his eye: a little-known actor named Philip Baker Hall. In four very brief scenes, Hall plays a Las Vegas consigliere who keeps trying to convince his godfather not to whack people. His name was Sidney. "I don't think you should do this," he says in one scene. In another, he uses the curiously formal diction that seems to have hit Anderson in the place where he vibrates to the rhythms of David Mamet: "I'm supposed to advise you against such acts."".

Was described as 'his evil twin bother' by Daniel Day-Lewis when Day-Lewis was accepting the Critics' Choice Award for best actor for his performance in There Will Be Blood in 2008.

He is the only Director to win a best director prize at each of the big European film festivals. He won at Cannes for Punch Drunk Love, at Berlin for There Will be Blood, and at Venice for The Master.

Personal Quotes (23)

I have a feeling, one of those gut feelings, that I'll make pretty good movies the rest of my life. And maybe I'll make some clunkers, maybe I'll make some winners, but I guess the way that I really feel is that Magnolia (1999) is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make.

My dad was one of the first guys on the block to have a VCR. So along with all the videotapes that I would rummage through, I would find porno movies. Not that it twisted me into some maniac or anything. I was watching porno from age 10 to 17. I had an interest in it.

I had older brothers and sisters who were doing drugs and playing rock music and doing all those insane things. I was watching.

You can really see a strong and distinctive line between '70s and '80s porn, not just in the quality but in the spirit behind it.

Today's movie villains often remind us of James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart and that's as cool as it gets. There's something comforting if they're hip and cool. They're not entirely real, or not entirely threatening, so it might be a little easier to swallow if they remind us of traditional movie villains.

I watch [Steven Spielberg] movies, and know: Those are fairy tales. I understand what he does. And I make a film on cancer and frogs - however I want that many spectators nevertheless! I find that is a good goal, and I consider it a weakness of mine that I haven't reached it yet.

All I wanna try and do is sing "Melancholy Baby", y'know, but then it starts to come out like "The Star Spangled Banner" half the time.

[on the meaning of Magnolia (1999)'s ending] Oh, how I hate it, when directors are supposed to explain their films. I only say this much: If I had had more cash, I would have let it rain cats and dogs.

[on the popular belief that Daniel Day-Lewis is indifferent or not completely committed to remaining an actor] That is an amazing misconception. Daniel loves acting so much that it becomes a quest for perfection. People don't know how Daniel can do this job the way that he does it, and my feeling is, I just can't understand how anyone could do it any other way.

[on researching for There Will Be Blood (2007)] After a few trips to Bakersfield, where they have museums devoted to the early oilmen, I started to get a sense of the film. The museums are largely trailers with a lot of oil equipment lying around the yard. Back in the day, enough people had cameras and they took a lot of pictures. Oil fields were an interesting thing to photograph, and that research made it easy to put the pieces of their times together.

[on buying a copy of Upton Sinclair's "Oil!", which he adapted into There Will Be Blood (2007)] I was homesick and the book had a painting of California on the cover.

All of life's questions and answers are in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948). It's about greed and ambition and paranoia and looking at the worst parts of yourself. When I was writing There Will Be Blood (2007), I would put "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" on before I went to bed at night, just to fall asleep to it.

I remember the bad outfits my parents dressed me up in and my Beatles haircut but I never watched The Brady Bunch (1969). The Partridges? I hated their music.

No matter how many times you do it, you don't get used to the sadness - for me at least - of coming to the end of a film.

[on Stanley Kubrick] We're all children of Kubrick, aren't we? Is there anything you can do that he hasn't done?

On Stanley Kubrick: It's so hard to do anything that doesn't owe some kind of debt to what Stanley Kubrick did with music in movies. Inevitably, you're going to end up doing something that he's probably already done before. It always seem like we're falling behind whatever he came up with. Singin' in the Rain (1952) in A Clockwork Orange (1971) - that was the first time I became so aware of music in movies. So no matter how hard you try to do something new, you're always following behind.

I really subscribe to that old adage that you should never let the audience get ahead of you for a second. So if the film's abrasive and wrongfoots people then, y'know, that's great. But I hope it involves an audience. If not, that's my fuck-up.

Well I'd really love to work with Robert De Niro, because he's still the most talented actor out there. Maybe he makes some bad choices, which can be frustrating. On the one hand, you want to say, 'What the fuck's going on?' On the other, you can't get mad at him for wanting to work, because most actors would be murderers if they weren't working.

[on Robert Altman] I knew him pretty well, off and on for about 10 years, but I had gotten to know him particularly well in the last three or four years. I got to watch Bob navigate that film, and I watched how good he was at evading questions, in the best way. He was really good at not committing himself too early to something. He didn't impose his will early. He loved to work with people. He loved to see what they came up with. He would give things time to settle, to rise or to fall, and watching him do that was a great lesson in patience. Because at the end of the day, he invited everybody in to work on this film, but he ended up getting exactly what he wanted, and everyone else felt that they had been part of it, because they had. They really made the film with Bob. How he did that was a lesson to me.

Screenwriting is like ironing. You move forward a little bit and go back and smooth things out.

[on Inherent Vice (2014)] It has great paranoia, which you must have if you're doing a Pynchon book. But most of all it seemed to be a way to address something that's prevalent in all his books; that outlandish spirit, the humor, the nostalgia - that kind of sweet, dripping aching for the past.

[on writing realistic dialogue for characters who are using cocaine] I've done a lot of coke and had those insane conversations.

[on Joaquin Phoenix] He's like a dog that will fetch the ball over and over and over again. You can throw it down the cliff, you can throw it into the snow, you can throw it in the ocean, and he will go get the ball and bring it back. And he will curl up in your lap and keep you warm by the fire. He's the best dog I've ever had.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000759/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

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